tclnu 


±2^ 


Duke  University  Libraries 

(Communication 
Conf  Pam  #420 

IIIIIIM 


MESSAGK  OF    THE    IMIESIDENT. 

Richmond,  Va.,  Jan,  25,   1864. 
To  the  House  of  Representatives : 

In  response  to  your  resolution  of  the  I  Ith  ult.,  I  herewith  trans- 
mit a  communication  from  the  Secretary  of  War,  showing,  as  far  as 
the  records  of  the  Department  enable  him  to  do,  the  number  of  men 
liable  to  conscription  who  have  been  removed  from  the  Commissary 
and  Quartermaster's  Departments,  to  give  place  to  disabled  soldiers, 
as  directed  by  law. 

JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 


CoNFEDERA  rr,  States  of  America,      ) 

War  DepartmeTit,  ^ 

Richmond,  Va.,  Jan.  23,  18G4.  ) 

To  tht  i*resiwitt  of  ihi.  Confederate.  States  : 

Sir  :  I  have  received  the  following  resolution  of  the  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives, referred  by  your  Excellency  to  this  Department: 

Renslved,  That  the  President  be  requested  to  inform  this  House 
what  number  of  men  liable  to  conscription  have  been  removed  from 
the  Quartermaster  ;ini  Commissary  Departments,  and  their  places 
filled  by  disabled  soldiers,  in  pursuance  of  an  order  issued  by  the  Ad- 
jutant (jrene)al,  to  carry  inLe  effect  a  law  on  this  subject,  passed  by 
the  Congress  of  the  C  )nfederate  States." 

The  reports  of  the  Adjutant  General,  Quartermaster  General,  Com- 
missary (xeneral,  and  Superintendent  of  Conscription,  herewith  trans- 
mitted, convey  all  the  information  in  the  possession  of  this  Depart- 
ment, and  set  forth  the  reasons  which  render  it  impossible  to  respond 
more  satisfactorily  to  the  resolution  of  the  House. 

Verj  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

JAMES  A.  SEDDON, 

Secretary  of  War. 


C.  S.  War  Department,  i 

.  Adjvtant  and  Inspector  GineraVs  Office,  \ 

Richmond,  Ya.,  Jan.  22,  I8G4.      S 

lion.  Jawles  a.  Seddon, 

Secretary  of  War,  Richmond,  Va. : 

Sir  :  The  information  desired  bv  the  resolution  of  the  Houpe  of 
Representatives,  in  relation  to  the  number  of  able-bodied  soldiers  em- 
ployed in  the  Quartermaster  and  Commissary  Departments,  who  have 
been  sent  to  the  field,  under  the  operation  of  the  act  of  Congress,  ap- 
proved April  22,  1S63,  cannot  be  furnished  as  fully  as  the  resolution 
contemplates.  But  it  will  appear  from  the  general  orders  in  which 
the  act  is  published  to  the  army,  (a  copy  of  which  is  now  furnished,) 
that  the  Department  has  endeavored  to  enforce  the  provisions  of  the 
law.  It  may  be  confidently  asserted,  that,  except  in  special  cases, 
and  under  the  immediate  sanction  of  the  Secretary  of  War,  no  em- 
ployee reported  by  post  quartermasters  or  commissaries  has  been  re- 
tained in  either  of  the  departments  specified,  unless  disability  for  field 
service  was  clearly,  shown,  in  the  manner  prescribed  in  the  general 
orders.  It  has  been  the  invariable  rule  of  this  office,  when  such  dis- 
ability was  not  shown,  to  order  the  employee,  if  a  soldier,  to  the  field, 
and  if  a  conscript,  to  direct  the  Bureau  of  Conscription  to  conscribe 
and  assign  him  to  a  company  in  the  army.  These  orders  were  made 
^y  endorsement  upon  the  reports,  which  were  referred  either  to  the 
"ificer  reporting,  or  to  the  Bureau  of  Conscription,  as  the  facts  indi- 
cated to  be  proper. 

It  would  have  been  impossible,  without  greatly  increased  clerical 
assistance  in  this  office,  to  register  the  names  of  employees  in  those  de- 
partments ;  and,  as  the  law  did  not  require  a  report  of  their  number 
to  be  made  to  Congress,  this  was  not  considered  necessary  for  its  en- 
forcement. 

No  similar  reports  were  required  of  commanding  general?,  because 
it  was  considered  they  would  permit  no  able-bodied  soldier  in  the  field 
to  remain,  in  violation  of  the  law  and  orders,  as  an  employee  in  either 
of  the  departments. 

I  am,  sir,  very  respectfully, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

S.  COOPER, 
Adjutant  and  Inspector  General. 


Quartermaster  General's  Office,      } 
Richmond^  January  14,  1863.  S 

Hon.  James  A.  8eduon,  Secretary  of  War^  Richmond^  Va. 

Sir  :  I  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  the  resolutioji 
of  the  House  of  Representatives,  of  the  12th  of  December,  1863, 
requesting  the  "  President  to  inform  the  House  what  number  of  men 
liable  to  conscription,  have  been  removed  from  the  Quartermaster 
and  Commissary's  Departments,  and  their  places  filled  by  disabiei} 
soldiers,  in  pursuance  of  an  order  issued  by  the  Adjutant  General, 
to  carry  into  effect  a  law  on  this  subject,  passed  by  the  Congress  of 
the  Confedornte  States."  The  order  alluded  to  in  the  rusolution,  is 
supposed  to  be  general  order  No.  105,  dated  July,  1863  ;  and  the  law 
that  of  April  2Uth,  1863,  respecting  clerks  in  the  Quartermaster 
and  Commissary's  Departments. 

The  resolution,  so  far  as  regards  quartermasters,  cannot  be  aii- 
swered  by  this  office,  because  : 

lat.  The  said  order  rciiuires  reporis  to  be  made  through  this  office 
only,  by  officers  at  posts.  Officers  in  the  field,  who  constitute  at  least 
three-fourths  of  the  whole,  are  required  to  report  to  their  command- 
ing general,  who,  it  is  supposed,  transmits  such  reports  directly  to  the 
Adjutant  and  Inspector  General's  Department. 

2nd.  With  regard  to  officers  at  posts,  it  can  be  said,  that  of  the 
twelve  hundred  and  forty  (1240)  quartermasters  and  assistant  quar- 
termasters, in  the  service,  only  three  hundred  and  ninty-five  (395) 
are  serving  at  posts.  Of  these  one  hundred  and  twenty-one  have 
rendered  reports,  under  said  orders ;  these  reports  have  all  been  sent 
promptly  to  the  Adjutant  and  Inspector  General's  Department,  for  his 
actions  and  orders.  As  to  the  military  status  of  these  clerks,  I  am 
not  advised ;  the  action  taken  by  that  officer,  if  any,  has  not  been 
communicated  to  this  office,  but  is  presumed  to  have  been  sent  directly 
to  the  proper  enrolling  officer,  for  execution. 

The  order  of  the  War  Department,  in  question,  and  the  law  of 
April  20th,  1863,  on  which  it  is  based,  appears  to  have  been  regularly 
executed,  so  fur  as  the  reports  have  been  received  from  officers ;  ad 
urgent  appeals  from  many  of  them,  for  the  detention  of  efficient  and 
experienced  clerks  have  been  denied,  when  the  parties  were  liable  to 
military  duty. 

officers  at  posts,  who  have  not  yet  rendered  the  reports  required, 
have  been  again  called  on  to  do  so,  and  proper  efforts  are  being  made 
to  secure  them  from  all.  It  may  be  remarked,  as  one  cause  of  delay, 
that  a  number  of  these  officers  are  in  the  trans-Mississippi  depart- 
ment, with  whom,  communication  is  slow  and  difficult. 
I  have  the  honor  to  be, 

Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

A.  R.   LAWTON, 
Quartermaster  General,  C.  S.  A, 


Richmond,  Va.,  Dec.  15,  1863. 
Hon.  James  A.  Seddon,  Secretary  of  War  : 

Sir  :  The  following  resolution,  adopted  by  Congress  and  referred 
by  you  on  the  14th  inst.,  was  duly  received  : 

"  Resolved,  That  the  President  be  requested  to  inform  this  House 
what  number  of  men,  liable  to  conscription,  have  been  removed  from 
the  Quartermaster  and  Commissary  Departments,  and  tlieir  places 
filled  by  disabled  soldiers,  in  pursuance  of  an  order  issued  by  the  Ad- 
jutant (jeneral  to  carry  into  effect  a  law  on  this  subject,  passed  by  the 
Congress  of  the  Confederate  States." 

I  would  respectfully  reply  that  as  soon  as  the  order  of  the  Adju- 
tant General  was  received,  it  was  distributed  to  ihe  commissarie.>- 
throughout  the  Confederacy,  and  although  often  petitioned  by  these 
officers  in  different  parts  of  the  country  to  allow  them  to  retain  certain 
of  these  clerks  who  had  rendered  invaluable  service  in  their  offices,  an 
invariable  answer  in  the  negative  has  been  returned,  and  the  commis- 
saries instructed  to  employ  disabled  soldiers  and  non-conscripts  for 
the  duty. 

So  far  as  this  bureau  proper  is  concerned,  no  clerks  have  been  ap- 
pointed in  it  since  the  passage  of  the  first  act  of  conscription,  except- 
ing those  men  who  had  been  discharged  from  the  service  of  the  Con- 
federate States  army,  or  who  were  detailed  on  account  of  physical  disa- 
bility from  such  service.  I'revious  to  the  passage  of  that  act,  verbal 
application  had,  from  time  to  time,  been  made  to  the  Secretary  of  War 
for  additional  force  in  the  bureau.  I  entered  the  office  on  1st  April, 
1861,  with  one  one  clerk  ;  on  the  2Gth  April,  an  additional  clerk  was 
allow'ed.  By  act  of  Congress,  two  more  were  allowed  in  August,  1861. 
These  continued  to  transact  the  current  work  of  the  office  until  Novem- 
ber, when,  in  consequence  of  the  great  increase  of  business,  verbal  ap- 
plication was  made  for  several  others  ;  only  one  was  allowed  until 
March,  1862,  when  authority  was  given  me  to  employ  two  others.  On 
the  9th  October,  1862,  application  was  again  made  to  the  Secretary  of 
War,  by  letter,  for  twelve  additional  clerks,  which  was  approved  by 
him. 

The  accounts  of  the  office  continued  to  accumulate.  On  the  20th 
January,  1863,  another  increase  of  ten  clerks  was  applied  for  and 
granted.  The  conscription  act  had  been  passed,  and  the  construction 
put  upon  it  was  that,  after  the  16th  April,  1862,  no  clerk  could  be  ap- 
pointed who  was  subject  to  conscription  at  the  time  of  the  pas- 
sage of  the  act.  The  appointments,  being  restricted,  were  made  from 
that  class  of  citizens  who  had  been  in  and  Avere,  at  the  time  of  ap- 
pr>i  .Luient,  dichargedfrom  the  service  of  the  Confederate  States  army. 

hi  consequence  of  this  limitation  the  parties  appointed  lost  so  much 
\-aiQ  from  sickness  and  wounds,  that  the  business  of  the  office,  which 
haii  been  continually  on  the  increase,  was  necessarily  thrown  behind 
Land.  Besides  the  loss  of  time  from  sickness,  interrogatories  from 
<  "ongress  had  to  be  answered,  which  consumed  the  time  of  most  of  the 
tierks  for  several  weeks.  To  overcome  these  difficulties  I  was  under  the 


necessity  recommending  to  you  a  further  increase  of  clerical  force  on 
the  17th  October,  1863.  When  the  latter  application  was  recommend- 
ed it  was  a  known  fact  that  but  few  efficient  wounded  men  and  non-con- 
scripts could  be  obtained  on  account  of  the  low  rate  of  compensation  al- 
lowed the  employees  of  the  Government, andthe impossibility  of  obtain 
ing  requisite  board  and  lodging  by  them;  and  several  of  the  most  efficient 
that  had  been  appointed  have,  during  the  present  year,  resigned  their 
positions  and  returned  to  the  army,  or  sought  more  lucrative  employ- 
ment elswhere.  Ag^iin,  the  clerks  had  been  enrolled  for  local  de- 
fence, and  thej  number  of  raids  made  by  the  enemy  in  the  vicinity  of 
Richmond  had  caused  a  suspension  of  business  in  the  department  for 
a  week  at  a  time.  It  Avas,  therefore,  desirable  that  as  m  my  men  as 
possible  should  be  untrammelled  for  the  local  defence  of  the  country. 
To  meet  these  necessities  and,  at  the  same  time,  to  aid  the  refugee 
and  destitute  portions  of  the  female  population  of  the  country  in  part, 
and  to  give  employment  to  many  intelligent  ladies  of  this  class,  the 
suggestion  had  been  made,  and  by  you  approved  and  recommended,  to 
test  the  qualifications  of  the  ladies  in  the  examination  of  the  accounts 
of  this  bureau.  The  experiment  has  been  tried,  and  is  likely  to  prove 
successful,  though  the  question  is  not  yet  beyond  doubt. 

With  regard  to  the  number  of  men  liable  to  conscription,  who  have 
been  removed  from  this  department,  this  information  can  best  be  ob- 
tained from  the  bureau  of  conscription,  the  officers  of  which  were  au- 
thorized b}''  the  Adjutant  General's  orders  to  conscribe  all  who  were 
efficient  for  field  service, 

I  have  been  thus  explicit  to  show  that,  so  far  as  it  lay  in  the  power 
of  this  bureau,  the  object  desired  has  been  sedulously  aimed  at. 
Very  respectfullv,  your  obedient  servant, 

L,  B.  NORTHOP, 
Commissary  General. 

Official  copy  : 

L.  B.  Northrop,  Commissary  General. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2010  with  funding  from 
Duke  University  Libraries 


http://www.archive.org/details/communicationfro32conf 


peRmalife* 

pH8.5 


